


Home Freak Home

by PromptPrincette



Category: Descendants (2015), Disney - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Angst, Canon Divergent, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Multi, Other, Past Child Abuse, Self-Harm, Slice of Life, Suicide Attempt, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-13 20:57:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4537032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PromptPrincette/pseuds/PromptPrincette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Different 'shots about the kids and their lives before, during, and after the movie. (Canon-divergent parts)</p>
<p>(Will contain mentions of and flashbacks of child abuse)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

They hadn't thought it through very well, to be honest. After a life time of eating rotten food and left overs, they were too excited to realize that real food might make them sick.

 

And it did make them sick. Very much. It was very unpleasant.

 

"I'm gonna die." Carlos groaned as he leaned over his bucket again. The cheeseburgers had tasted good going down... Up, not so much. Jay groaned in agreement from his position behind the bed (how and why he was there, Carlos had no idea.)

 

"They're trying to poison us." Jay whimpered, "This is how we die."

 

"You two are-are babies." Mal huffed, though she regretted it as nausea and dizziness overwhelmed her for a moment. She hadn't eaten as much as the boys and Evie had, so she was just well enough to put up with their suffering. The kids didn't quite trust anyone at the school to help, so it was up to her to keep them together. She groaned and rubbed a hand over her face.

"Evie isn't complaining like you guys are!" In fact, Evie had been silent for a while, now that Mal thought about it.

 

"Where... Where is she?" Carlos's eyebrows furrowed as he looked around slowly and realized the other girl wasn't in the room. Mal's eyes widened fractionally as she realized she didn't know where Evie had gone.

 

A quick glance around the room turned up nothing, so she went to check the bathroom. She found Evie on the floor of the bathroom, asleep.

 

With an annoyed sigh Mal turned back to the boys. "Found her." She mentally wondered if the diva would be okay on the floor, but decided they had slept in worse places. And moving her could prove disastrous.

 

She was about to say something else when a loud ringing sounded through the building. The sound filled Mal and the others with dread and fear. Mal broke out into a cold sweat as her head pounded.

 

The _dinner bell_.

 

_"_ I'm gonna- _-hermph!"_ Maybe Mal was sick too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eating disorder & body image tw

The fairest of them all. The thought haunted Evie from the time she was young, and would probably always haunt her. Her mother's voice slashed through her mind as stared at the plate in front of her.

 

To her left sat Mal, who was joking and laughing about something with Carlos. Seeing smiles on their faces made Evie smile as well, though it felt a bit hollow.

 

To her right was Jay, ever flirting with someone just out of her line of sight. She wanted to scold him for seemingly always flirting, but she couldn't find the strength to do so.

 

Seeing her friends happy made her smile, but it didn't make her happy. She felt hollow and alone, and she sneered at her plate of food. She didn't need company. She needed to be the fairest of them all, and eating mortal garbage wasn't the way to do so. She pushed the plate away from her and offered a shrug to some of the students who gave her curious looks.

 

Her stomach still hadn't adjusted to the food.

 

She was a small girl; she didn't need that much food.

 

It wasn't her favorite meal.

 

Excuse after excuse was made ready within her mind as she prepared for someone to eventually ask why she wasn't eating (or even why she hadn't eaten the day before, either.)

 

Her mother's voice reminded her once again, and she realized that she didn't have the heart... To tell them she wasn't hungry.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Animal abuse & child abuse (mentioned) tw

Carlos De Vil smiled to himself as Dude ran back and forth in front of him. Their walk was normally a short one, not too far from the school, but Carlos felt like venturing a bit further that day. The sun was out, though just barely. Small gray clouds were scattered about the sky, tempting the kingdom with the promise of rain.

 

"Dude, slow down." The boy laughed as Dude began running faster around him and through his legs. The small mutt barked excitedly and wiggled so hard Carlos was sure he would fall over. He bent down to run a hand over the dog's back, and Dude gave him a few licks in return.

 

_This is fun! What's this? What's that?_ Carlos giggled to himself as he imagined Dude's voice, excited and happy. He sighed to himself, content. He liked the silence that came with their walks. It gave him a chance to calm down and clear his mind, something that he had to do every now and then.

 

"...I think this is far enough, buddy. It looks like it's gonna rain, and Mal hates the smell of wet dog." He chuckled and turned on his heel. Mal wouldn't go near Dude if he smelled like wet dog, which led to... problems. He began to walk back towards the school, but realized Dude hadn't followed him. In fact, he looked back and saw that Dude had disappeared altogether. His eyes widened as he scanned the area, and saw no dog in sight. Had he run away? Gotten kidnapped?

 

"D-Dude! Dude!" He ran through the street and looked down every alley. No dog, not even a sound. His breathing was ragged, and his eyes stung with panicked tears.

 

" _Dude!_ " A horrible sound akin to nails on a chalkboard turned his attention back to an alley that seemed to branch off into another street. He stood, frozen, as he heard what sounded like a scuffle. Immediately he imagined someone in the ally, maybe some kind of monster, even. He couldn't go back for help, but he was scared. He wished Mal, Jay or Evie had been there. He had no way of knowing who, or what, was in that alley, and no way of asking for help.

 

After a moment's hesitation, however, he nodded to himself and ran towards the source of the noise. The sound of barking sent a chill down his spine, and a low, dragged out growl made him freeze when he reached an even smaller entry-way. It was dark, and full of trash, something he never would have suspected outside of the island. And just inside, he could see two sets of glowing eyes. He jumped back with a screech and ducked behind the corner. He heard something scurry towards him, and closed his eyes in hope that whatever it was wouldn't see him. He felt something furry push against his hand, and yanked it back in fear, only to find it was his dog.

 

"Dude! You're okay!" He ran his hands through Dude's fur quickly and ruffled the hairs. Dude gave a short yap and tilted his head with a couple wags of his tail.

 

_Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?_

 

"Wait," Carlos said to himself, "What about..." There had been two sets of eyes. Who had been with Dude?

 

Carlos gulped. Fear and curiosity tugged him in two different directions, but his choice was made when Dude ran back to the corner. Carlos muttered 'crap' under his breath (slightly scared Mal would appear and glare at him for the language [she was allowed to swear but not him and it wasn't fair]) and peeked around the corner. The growling started up again, and as he let his eyes adjust to the light, he saw the outline of a very large dog.

 

_Wolf! Beast! It'll eat you!_ His mother's voice echoed through his head, and he felt himself being violently slammed into memory after memory of his mother and her twisted lies. He felt tears prick his eyes and fear shoot down his spine as the growling grew louder. After a second of being frozen in fear he felt a metallic clang, and a sharp whine.

 

Was it... hurt?

 

His heart pounded in his chest and his head ached, but the idea that the dog could be hurt... It hurt worse than any other pain or fear he felt at the moment, and he began to slowly inch towards the strange dog. He held out a hand and kept his head down, and ignored the growling until he realized it had stopped. Dude ran in between Carlos and the dog, which Carlos could tell in the dim lighting was a pit bull. Around it's neck seemed to be a chain, but it looked far too heavy to be appropriate.

 

"Hey, boy, it's okay." Carlos whispered. The dog inched bag with it's head low and ears bag and let out the most pained whine Carlos had ever heard. It pained him to hear it whine, and it made him worry about what condition it had to be in to make that sound.

 

"I got you, it's okay. Just let me help. I'll take you back to my place, okay? You'll be fine."

 

The dog was quiet until Carlos got within a foot of it. His hand shook as he slowly went to the chain, in hopes of taking it off. The dog seemed okay with it at first, but soon the growling started up again. It backed against the wall and raised it's head.

 

Dude whimpered at Carlos's side, and he glanced down at the smaller dog. "It's okay, boy. We got this."

 

It took another ten minutes (and severe arm cramps) but Carlos was eventually able to pull the chain off and over the dog's head. After it was free, the dog bounded around Carlos and out of the alley.

 

"Hey!" Carlos yelped, "Wait for me!"

 

_This was a bad idea!_ Dude seemed to yap as he followed his master, and Carlos gave a half-hearted glare.

 

To the boy's surprise, however, the dog stood on the sidewalk and stared up at him. His tail wagged back and forth, and Carlos "humphed" to himself. He kneeled down and inspected the dog, and found bite marks and scratches, but also some that appeared to be from a bat or something of the like. And the way the dog flinched back at the way he raised his hand...His mouth grew dry as he thought about someone trying to hurt a dog, and tried to assure himself it must be something else. No one but his mother would hurt a dog.

 

But even as he thought it, he knew... Someone had hurt the dog. Willingly. On purpose. And then chained him up in an alley to die. 

 

Carlos ran a hand over the dog's gray coat and a few tears fell from his eyes. He cut off a sob as the dog gave him a gentle lick. He wanted to hug him, but he didn't think the poor thing was ready. He would wait, until the dog was better and happier. But then the hugs wouldn't stop, he swore it.

 

"Come on, boy." Carlos said gently as he swallowed back more tears, "Let's get you home and cleaned up." He wiped his face with his sleeve and stood. He gestured for the dogs to follow him, but as soon as Dude went to his side the strange dog growled and rushed towards the smaller dog. Carlos stood in front of Dude defensively. 

 

"Whoa, whoa, easy boy." Carlos said in a stern voice, he held out his hand again towards the pit bull. "It's okay. This is Dude. He's a friend."

 

The pit bull seemed to consider this information and looked between Dude and Carlos. After a moment he relaxed his posture and wagged his tail, which Carlos took as a good sign. He noticed the way the dog looked at him, though. It was something like protectiveness in the dog's eyes, mixed with pain and wisdom that he couldn't fathom.

 

It reminded him of Mal, actually. It was as if the dog was also from the little island he had called home for so long, and he felt a pang of empathy for the creature.

 

"Come on... Max." 


End file.
